


In Fairytales It's Simple

by lifechiaroscuro



Series: Pynch Week 2018 [1]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Background Gansey, M/M, Pynch Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 12:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15412461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifechiaroscuro/pseuds/lifechiaroscuro
Summary: In fairytales soulmates are simple. If it's platonic, two straight people of the same gender live happily ever after. If it's romantic, two people of opposite genders fall desperately in love and stay that way always.In real life, it's not that easy.(My belated fic for Pynch Week Day 1 - Soulmate Marks AU)





	In Fairytales It's Simple

In fairytales soulmates are simple. If it's platonic, two straight people of the same gender live happily ever after. If it's romantic, two people of opposite genders fall desperately in love and stay that way always.

In real life, it's not that easy.

 

* * *

 

The first time Ronan had seen Adam's soulmarks had gone something like this:

Open bedroom door. See Adam's soulmarks. Slam bedroom door shut.

He's gone out that night. Found Kavinsky at a stop light. When he shot past Kavinsky his mind was blank and he felt alive, alive, alive.

 

* * *

 

The aftermath of the demon goes something like this:

The first time Gansey is truly aware is when he wakes up on his bed.

Ronan stares at him, wide-eyed, then slams his fist against the floor.

“You fucking bastard!”

He pushes himself up violently.

His bedroom door slams behind him.

 

* * *

 

When Adam shuts the door, Ronan can tell by his expression that he won't be turned away.

Ronan stares at him instead, wary but defiant.

Adam stares back for a long moment, then says, “Come here.”

Ronan does not.

When Adam takes him by the wrists, Ronan wonders if he can feel his speeding heartbeat through his bracelets.

Adam pulls him through the main room and into the laundry-kitchen-bathroom.

He can feel the others’ eyes on him.

“Sit,” Adam orders.

Ronan stares. Adam stares back.

Ronan sits on the toilet seat.

Adam finds the first aid kit first, then a cloth.

Ronan's lips part slightly at the first touch of the cloth.

The focus on Adam's face is beautiful.

Everything feels at once distant and strikingly real.

“You're shaking,” Adam says, and there's something in his voice Ronan doesn't want to think about.

He closes his eyes.

He almost stops breathing when Adam puts antibiotic on his neck where a nail had broken skin, but the emotion he feels isn't fear.

He carefully wraps a hand around Adam's wrist. He opens his eyes and says, “Let me get your face.”

“I'm fine.”

“No, you're not.”

Ronan wins the second stare-down somehow, and then he’s breathless as his fingers touch the scratches on Adam's cheek.

Adam catches his hand carefully, turns his head to press a hesitant kiss to Ronan's palm.

Ronan lets out a shaky breath.

 

* * *

 

“I love you,” he breathes in the middle of the night, when Adam's miraculously right beside him on the bed. “I wish I could know, I would tell you -”

Adam shifts in his sleep.

Ronan shuts his mouth.

 

* * *

 

Opal is sleeping on a nest of blankets in Declan' room. The light of fireflies makes strange and beautiful patterns on Adam's face. Ronan watches him from the porch swing.

“I love you,” Ronan says, which is not what he’d meant to say.

Adam blinks at him, shocked.

He trips over his words. “Before we do - whatever the fuck this is - I thought I should tell you -”

“I know.”

Ronan swallows. “No, you don't.”

A couple seconds later, and his bracelets are on the porch swing.

Adam opens his mouth, then closes it. Silently, he steps forward to examine Ronan's wrists.

“I'm in love with you,” Ronan tells him, feeling his heart race.

Adam kisses one wrist, then the other.

“How do you know this is real?” Ronan whispers.

Adam kisses his lips, and warmth rushes through him.

“It's real,” Adam pledges.

Ronan opens his eyes and smiles, and for once it's easy and warm.


End file.
